Economics
Shelves Empty as Specter of Hyperinflation Stalks Zimbabwe
- Tax increase triggers rise in prices of basic commodities
- KFC closes outlets as it can’t find dollars to pay suppliers
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Austin Mushanguri shakes his head in dejection and walks away from the fridges in an upscale supermarket in Zimbabwe’s capital after reading a sign saying he can only buy one bottle of beer instead of the dozen he’d hoped for.
Similar scenes are playing out across the southern African nation, where a scarcity of foreign exchange and austerity measures have left consumers facing shortages of everything from fuel to bread and sugar, and sent prices soaring. It’s the latest challenge to President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who won an election in July and is trying to rebuild an economy wrecked by the misrule of former leader Robert Mugabe.